Analysis of the electronic properties of extremely condensed matter by the discrete-variational X alpha method: Application to cold dense neon plasma.

Abstract

To investigate dense matter the discrete-variational X\ensuremath{\alpha} method is applied to neon clusters to calculate their energy levels. In these clusters atoms are assumed to be located at simple or face-centered cubic sites. The calculations are carried out up to a density of about 1000 times that of a usual solid. For highly compressed clusters the kinetic energies of orbitals, as well as the repulsive potentials between electrons, increase. At the same time attractive potentials between electrons and neighboring nuclei lower the energies. As a result of these two competitive effects, orbital energies do not change monotonically with the density.